Freefall
by cavanaugh-girl
Summary: True, her life pretty much sucked before all this had happened but there was something about it that she didn’t want to trade even if she was given the choice.REVIEW PLEASE! CH 5 UP.
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: I don't own em….**_

Life as she knew it would never be the same again. She didn't know whether to cry or laugh at that statement. True, her life pretty much sucked before all this had happened but there was something about it that she didn't want to trade even if she was given the choice.

Right, she would undo her mothers murder and some other bad choices she made but other than that she wanted that life. Hey what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger right? Sure, then if that were the case she'd be invincible by now. There were a number of times when she thought that she could have died from the pain she was feeling, only she never did. Well there was that one time when she had tried to do it herself, but even that didn't go as planned.

The fact remains that whatever she called her life before, it was her life and the memories would be with her for the rest of her life. Some she would think fondly of, others would haunt her at night. They are hers to keep whether she wanted to or not.

This led her back to the current situation she was in; it had been six months since she was back. It had been six months since the charges against her had been dropped. It had been six months to the day when she had heard that the judge involved in all of this would be out on bail till further notice. That news had hit her like a brick wall coming down on her. Justice delayed, the headline had read in the newspaper that morning.

It was all for nothing she had said aloud. All her work, her digging to find JD's killer had all been for nothing. Once more life had taken nasty turn on her. All her friends were by her side when the news broke and had assured her that he'll get his dues in time. The judge's accomplices weren't as lucky or well connected as him and were arrested one by one, their future looking grimmer by the second.

A week into their trial it was established that one of them had killed JD. While that may have been true, she knew in her gut that the judge was the mastermind behind all this. It didn't matter that some criminal was going to jail for JD's murder. For him it was just another job, another hit he had to do for his boss. No, she didn't feel any justice had been done when the person that had orchestrated all of this was still out there in the world enjoying every luxury he could afford.

She felt sick to her stomach. JD's death had been for nothing. She blamed herself. She blamed JD for not telling her he was in danger but more than anything she blamed Judge Gordon. Despair soon kicked in. She knew this was the end; she would never be able to make him pay for his crime. She had tried by going to DC and looking for evidence herself. Whatever she found she handed over to the Boston PD and the DA's office. She was convinced that it was enough to indict and convict all of them. She was wrong and he got away.

There was nothing left to do. The system had let her down. She had let JD down. That hurt the most, knowing that she couldn't finish his work, making it count. At first she thought she was feeling this way out of guilt and a sense of loyalty. She thought she was trying to make amends with hurting him and while that was partially true, she realized that she had love him.

Deep down behind the sleazy reporter façade was a man, a man that loved her regardless of what she considered to be her shortcomings. A man that enabled her to mature, to love, to feel like a woman, a woman that deserved to be loved, a woman that could love another person without wanting anything in return. For that he would always have a special place in her heart.

This was just one of the things that had changed her life. Her job was another little detail that seemed to plague her. The truth was she didn't have a job at the moment. Bureaucracy had kicked into full gear when she was supposedly to have killed JD. The county of Massachusetts apparently makes it a point of not employing killers or suspected killers. So as soon as detective Simmons put out the APB on Jordan Cavanaugh, the county morgue removed her from the employee list.

Seeing as how she was now cleared of all the charges, the county quickly had to admit their mistake and reinstate her. The problem was that bureaucracy, even with today's technology, was very slow. For the time being she was allowed to be an outside consultant on the cases until she had her position back. A consultant? She had scoffed when Garret had told her the news. He didn't like it any better than she did but his hands were tied. It had taken him every contact he had to at least give her that much.

Their superiors didn't think it was necessary to have an extra ME since they had already hired someone as her replacement. Garret had kindly reminded him that she was in fact falsely accused of murder and she desired to do so, she could sue the pants off every one of them for their misdoings. They quickly had changed their mind. For now she would share cases with the person hired to replace her. Jordan had enjoyed that part the most. Not only wasn't she given her job back, but also she had to share the job she didn't have with someone else. It was enough to make her want to run again.

Her life seemed to be in an endless freefall with no indication of slowing down or even hitting the ground. Life as she knew it would never be the same again.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own em… 

Her rival, as she became accustomed to call her, didn't like Jordan anymore than she liked her. Everyday the morgue seemed to become more and more like a war zone. Jordan, frustrated with her current situation, could be found in Garret's office on the hour every hour. Sometimes voluntary and sometimes so Garret could remind her to play nice or simply go home. This had hurt her in the beginning, he was her friend, her bestest girlfriend at one point, but she realized that he was doing all he could for her.

His superiors were waiting for the moment to snatch away his position from him. There was word an investigation into the morgue was underway. His calls to DA Walcott never seemed to answer his questions. However key players were already in place. Jordan was being taken care off and they didn't even have to lift a finger and Garret himself also seemed to have a little competition. The morgue's latest hire, Dr. Kate Switzer, had but one position in mind, Chief ME and she would do whatever in her power to get it.

All these factors combined limited Garret's ability to help Jordan as much as he wanted to. Being the man that he is however, he threw caution to the wind and stepped up for her whenever he could thinking it was only fair since she had helped him whenever she could in the past.

Jordan in the meantime dealt with her new life in her own way. Usually that included long walks in the park, beach, wherever she could to take her minds off things. Her friends reached out to her and she welcomed their attention but there were moments when she needed to be alone. Her pain was deep and no matter how hard her friends tried to understand they couldn't really understand it fully. How could they? Their life hadn't been snatched away form them. Sure they felt a singe of pain knowing their friend was in pain and in danger, but at the end of the day they all went to their respective homes able to wake up in the morning without the feds or BPD breaking down their door in search of a fugitive. They had been safe, worried out of their minds but safe.

During her long walks she would revisit the last year of her life and contemplate when it all had gone so horribly wrong. Was it when she met JD? Was it when she ran to DC? Could it be the ring Woody tried to give her? Each time she would come up with a different version and each time she would feel even more lost. Sometimes she wondered if she shouldn't just give up. Give up on her job, her friends, her life. She was just a pawn anyway. Someone out there seemed to be calling all the shots.

Someone, she wasn't sure if that someone was God. It could be someone further down the ladder, Judge Gordon came to her mind. He was still out there free to roam around and cause more harm than good. It could also be a bit closer to home. It hadn't escaped her knowledge that Garret was acting more tense than usual. With all her own problems she hadn't been able to do much about it but now more and more she became convinced that their problems could possibly be tied together. At least the problems pertaining to work, the other ones were all hers.

She vainly tried to get information out of Garret, but he wasn't about to let her get into any more trouble than she already was. He led his guard down only on one occasion and it had peaked her interest even more, "Jordan, they want us out! Don't give them any tools to do so." He quickly had changed the topic but it was too late, she was in and not letting go until she knew exactly who _they_ were and why they wanted them out.

For once her shared workload seemed to be a blessing in disguise. It enabled her to spend time on her own personal investigation. It took her all her might to convince Garret to help her in any way he could. She couldn't leave him out of the loop since he could well be her most important and most knowledgeable link in all of this.

It started out very slow; the mysterious _they_ were trying really hard to keep everything hush hush even from Garret. It seemed that his relation with the DA was also a blessing in disguise. On more than one occasion she had fed him information for reasons that she didn't reveal to him. It was no secret that they once had cared for each other and quite possibly the remnants of that caring had motivated Walcott to do it, after all before she was a DA she was a woman and she never discounted that asset.

The pieces of the puzzle seemed to finds it way to Garret who in turn informed Jordan. Their special investigation would at times be put on the side when the caseloads would pile up. However even when they weren't working on it, they were always looking, listening for possible clues. One such clue as Jordan found came from an old friend. Woody Hoyt to be exact.

At first she hadn't even noticed the value in his comment, he had come in to follow up on one of his cases and they started to talk. They were mostly talking about work. It had been this way ever since she came back from DC and started to work at the morgue again. There was a silent but evidently mutual agreement to remain friends for the moment. Jordan was still dealing with the loss of JD and Woody had his own demons to fight concerning his messy break up with Lu.

She was finishing up on one of his cases when he had come in trace. They started their usual banter about the morgue, BPD and such. He had joked about her _rival_ and the progress on their professional relationship. She told him there was none. "The woman is impossible to work with Woody. I'm losing my mind here."

"Jordan that happened a long time ago already," he had joked.

"Well can you imagine me even worse than that! She's narrow-minded Woody narrow-minded and she has categorized everything in _our _office. Everything! She keeps track of the pencils…need I say more?"

He laughed, "well you did need some order in your life." He quickly realized the deeper meaning of comment and tired to brush it of. "So any progress on my case?"

She eyed him for a second, "I don't screw up my life on purpose Woody."

He closed his eyes for a sec knowing he just brought their relationship two steps backward. "Jordan I know that. I didn't mean it to sound the way it did. I just heard some stuff that's all."

"Oh, stuff like what?" she enquired. Something in her mind clicked, she knew this had to do with Garret and herself. "Come on Woody, stuff like what?"

"Eh I'm not sure I should even be talking about this actually." He was starting to sweat now.

"Even to me?" she had to play her cards right. "Woody we're friends you can tell me." and she played them right, it seemed he was giving in. For a split second she felt bad about using him but what was one more lie between friends she thought.

"They're rumors Jordan, at least that's what we're being told. There's word of some big changes coming…changes that will affect the morgue."

"Look around Woody, this isn't change enough for you?" she laughed it off.

He grew serious suddenly, "No, bigger changes than sharing your office. The new ME that was hired, she's out for Garret's job."

She thought back to Elaine and Slokum trying unsuccessfully to do the same thing. "Woody that won't happen anytime soon unless he gives his position up himself."

"Just think about it, why would the BPD be hearing rumors if it wasn't happening? I mean we're colleagues and all but we're still in different buildings. Just watch out for yourself Jor." He cringed slightly at the use of her nickname.

Jordan noticed it but let it go, "Me?" she scoffed.

"Yes, you. Don't me wrong you're brilliant at what you do, but you know as well as I do that you're not the favorite ME around here and if they get rid of Garret…well you could be next." The ring of his cell cut his trip short and with a final look he left.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Disclaimer: I don't own em…**_

"Those bastards!" Jordan yelled when he left. She went straight to Garret's office with the news but when she got there she noticed sitting in the chair across from him was the devil herself. Garret and the new ME seemed to be in an argument of sorts. She was using a lot of hand gestures and Jordan recognized Garret's expression as of annoyance and he had his leave-me-the-hell-alone look on that she had seen so many times herself. She stationed herself where neither of them could really see her and unfortunately that meant she was out of hearing range as well.

Finally she left and Jordan slipped inside without Garret noticing as he was rubbing his temples and his eyes shut. "Though day?" she spoke softly.

He looked up and to his surprise there was Jordan, not someone he really wanted to see right now. "Jordan not now, go bother Nigel for the moment."

"Aw just like that. Come on spill! What was that all about?" she pretty much could guess but still wanted to hear from him.

"Jordan none of your business now if you'll excuse me..."

"She wants your job." It came out before she knew it and it sounded more like a statement than a question. "I mean is she?"

"Cut the crap you know she is. Do I even want to know how you found out?" he asked wishing he hadn't.

"No but I'll tell you, it seems the BPD knows more than we do concerning our own business here. There are rumors going around she's out for your job." She paused for his comments. It took him a few minutes to answer though.

"Well let me put all those rumors to rest then. She's officially up for my job; I was kindly informed this morning." He seemed resigned as he spoke.

"And you're telling me this now? What about all we talked about…"

"Jordan it's done. Let it go, you certainly have enough problems without having to deal with mine." She couldn't believe he was giving up so fast and without a fight too.

"What could they possibly have on you that could make you give up this fast? Is it Slokum? It can't be, Garret what is going on here?"

He walked over to the sofa and sat down, took a deep breath and told her what had transpired between them. When he finished he gave her a moment to process everything, "so any questions?"

Disbelief was all over her face, "how...why would she do such a thing? It's been years, decades even. And nobody even thought to look into her past?"

"Come on Jordan, what would they have looked for? Psycho ex isn't really one of the check marks now is it?"

"And you…you didn't realize it was her? All this time she's been here, all this time you've worked with her. How can you not recognize someone that's been that close to you?" she had more questions than he wished to answer.

"I spend most of my adolescent year under the influence of whatever I could get my hands on. There are some things that I still don't know if they really happened and some things or people that I don't remember. I haven't always been like this, there are some things in my past that can come and bite me in the ass…pretty much like what is happening now."

"Still how did she get this far? She must have had help." She started to think about her own battles with Judge Gordon."

"Her family as it turns out is very well connected and I don't have to tell you the implications of power to those that abuse it. Listen Jordan promise me you'll stay out of it, promise me." He genuinely wanted her to stay out of it fearing that she'll be the next to go.

"Ok yeah sure, I'll just stand here while they take away everything you've worked for. Yeah, that sure seems to be likely. Garret, what is wrong with you? You stood by while Slokum came here and took over. You didn't fight back until the very end…this is not you…this is not the man that wouldn't let me give up all those years ago when I wanted to more than anything in the world. You gave me something worth living for and now I'm supposed to believe that it was all for nothing. You're damn right I'm going to fight this."

"Jordan, I'm asking you as a boss…as your friend, let it go."

"How can you ask me that…"

"It's not just me; they want you out as well. It seems they've been delaying to give your job back for this very reason. With me gone there would be no else to fight for you. You need to stay out of trouble, for your own sake not just mine."

Feeling a bit overwhelmed she took a seat beside Garret on the sofa. They both remained silent for a bit. There were a million thoughts going through her head, one seemed to pop out over the rest. "I should have never come back huh? It just doesn't get better no matter what I do. "

Garret, having never heard her speak like this, was growing even more concerned. He didn't realize that she would start blaming herself although he realized he should have. The scars of JD's death and circumstances were still fresh and without a doubt this must bring her right back to that. He wanted to kick himself right now.

"Jordan this is not your fault, it would have happened whether you were here or not. This is my past that's come back to haunt me, not yours. Look at me; it's not on your head. With everything that went down here the past year, they found it best to come in now and stage a take over," he said as an halfhearted attempt to joke as he turned her towards himself. The look on her face told him that she didn't even register what he had said to her. She was gone again.

She nodded and feigned a headache saying she was going to grab an aspirin from her office. He had no choice but to let her go.

She did go back to her office and took the bottle of aspirin from her drawer. She instantly went back to JD standing before her claiming he was looking for aspirin. He swore he wasn't snooping. A tear fell on her hand. She missed him. She missed herself before all this. She wiped off her tears and set out to find Nigel. "I'll be damned if I let Garret go down for this. My life is seemingly fucked but I won't let him throw his away without a fight. "

"Nige!" she held him by his arms, "Nigel, I need you." She pleaded with him.

"Love, I'm ready. What can I do for you?" he was eager to help and it showed. It was the first time she had asked for help since her return.

"It's Garret, now promise me that what I tell you will not leave this room." She didn't speak until he agreed. "They're after Garret and I can't let that happen. I need it to be ok Nigel. God, we have to stop them Nige, we need to make it right."

"Ok, love slow down here. You're not making any sense, who is after Dr. M.?"

"The powers that be! Shit I don't know that's why I need you. They want to get rid of him. I can't let that happen, I can't." She felt powerless when it came to her own life; this, however, she felt she could change or at least she knew she had to try. Stiles would have probably said that she was fixing Garret's problems because she was avoiding her own. _Stiles can take a hike for all I care_, she thought to herself.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Disclaimer: I don't own em…**_

She took a few moments to regain her composure before she told Nigel everything she knew. It wasn't much but Nigel began working his magic. He found out some background information on Dr. Switzer, in fact Switzer was her late husbands name. Her maiden name turned out to be Hall. This little discovery led them to many others. Kate Hall came from a middle class neighborhood and family. Her parents were Catholic and strict ones too. Needless to say when she ended up pregnant at fourteen her parents were less than thrilled and send her to a boarding school for girls, or as it was known then, a school for underage pregnant girls.

She left the school at the age of sixteen for New York. There the trail seemed to get a bit hazy but Nigel managed to find a few clues to her whereabouts there. She lived on the streets as far as they could tell before Kate Hall vanished and Kate Switzer emerged.

"Damn it Nige, can't we find anything about her after New York?" Jordan asked.

Nigel eager to help her reassured her he would keep working on it till he found something. "Love, I will not give up. For now this is all I have but rest assured I will continue looking. Right now we both need to move on to our work if we still want to work here that is."

She sighed knowing he was right, "yea Nige, I will be damned if either Garret or myself lose this job now after everything we've been through. _Dr. Hall_ doesn't know who she is dealing with."

"I'd hate to be in her shoes. Alright run along now love and play nice."

"I always do Nige…I always do…" she gave him a kiss on the cheek before she left for her office to catch up on some work she told Nigel.

Unbeknownst to Nigel however, she went to pay the doctor in question a visit. For some reason she felt like seeing her. She wanted to let her know that she wasn't planning on just stepping aside while she waltzed all over Garret and herself in a way.

She found Dr. Switzer in trace, _where else she thought? She's working very hard to take over Garret's job, _Jordan thought to herself as she was standing outside of the room. She stood there for quite a while and it was Kate that noticed her standing there before she went in.

"Dr. Cavanaugh," she said as she looked straight at Jordan not missing a beat. Jordan wasn't quite sure what to make of her tone. She heard something in her voice that she couldn't quite place. "What can I do for you?" There it was again. Whatever it was it didn't sit well with Jordan.

"Dr. Switzer, I'm just checking in to see if I can lend a hand. I've pretty much finished up all my outstanding cases and seeing as we share the workload, I thought I could lend you a hand. I've got two free ones right here." Jordan was playing it cool and that last joke came almost naturally.

"Oh? Really, you want to help out? Hmm ok let's see…sure why not." Kate wasn't sure what to think of Jordan. She never had offered before to help and seeing as how she was stepping into Jordan's world unwanted to say at best, she knew that she was hated on some level. This however struck her as odd but it was welcome. She wasn't here to fight her…not her.

"So what do we got here?" Jordan asked. However much she wanted to just call Kate out on her intentions, there was still an unsolved case to be dealt with.

I'm just doing the preliminary exam, go ahead and tell me what you think. I'll observe you."

Jordan sprung into action. She quickly donned a pair of exam gloves. "Let's see Caucasian female, age mid twenties, gunshot wound on the left side of her head. Do we have an ID?" she asked Kate.

"Dr. Townsend is working on it as we speak. He's running her DNA through the database. What else do you notice?" This was as good a time as any to see how good she really was. Jordan's reputation preceded her and Kate had heard stories. She wasn't sure which ones were true but the one story that was always the same was Jordan's uncanny ability to solve a case.

Jordan felt as if she was being tested but didn't back down. If Kate really wanted to test her she was ready and more than willing to fight back. "She has some bruises on her arms, abdomen and her thighs…signs of struggle, possible rape. Did you get a rape kit Dr. Switzer?"

"Yes, I'm having Nigel run the analysis as soon as he's done with the DNA test." She was starting to realize that Jordan was taking over. When she offered to observe she didn't really think that Jordan would take over. She made a mental note not to make that mistake again. She made an effort to move things along, "Dr. Cavanaugh you're not telling me anything new, perhaps I should take over again."

"Ouch. Ok sure thing Dr. Switzer why don't you take over again. I wasn't trying to take over your case." As soon as she had walked in Jordan had felt something…something she couldn't quite place. She now realized it was Kate tensing up. _She feels threatened by me! _Jordan realized. Dr. Switzer feeling threatened by her presence was an additional bonus. This could come in useful so she backed down…for now. "I'll go see if I can speed things up with Nigel."

As long as she left her alone Dr. Switzer didn't really care who she went to see even if it was her case. "Yes, that'd be very helpful."

"All right glad to help." Jordan responded as she got rid of the gloves and went to search for Nigel. On her way out a she gave Kate a last look…she more than ready for her.

Jordan found Nigel behind his computer. She smiled at him as he looked up once he noticed her presence. "Love I don't have anything new to report. Things picked up right after you left." He said as his eyes were glued to his screen again.

"Nige, no worries. I'm here to check on Dr. Switzer's DNA results. Any progress?"

Nigel was clearly confused, "what? You want to get her results? Ok love what are you up to?"

"Nigel, I'm shocked," she said in a mock shocked voice. "Me? Up to something? I'm just trying to help her…really."

Right…and was all that earlier? Something about Dr. M…"

"Ok, ok. I went to see her after we finished up. I didn't mean to but I think she felt threatened by me when I offered to help so I came here."

"Hmm…that's interesting, although you shouldn't have gone to her so quickly."

"Maybe. So any luck so far?"

"Yes and no. Our Jane Doe was a virgin so that rules out rape but that still doesn't explain the bruises. I'm waiting on the DNA results as we speak. I've this new program, not quite legal yet but very thorough, so any minute now we should get the results."

As on queue the results came in, "Deborah Connor, 26 reported missing two weeks ago. Should I inform the lovely Dr. Kate or would you like to?"

"Nige, you're terrific. I'll let you do the honor and let the detective in charge know as well. Who needs the BPD when we have you?" She left feeling things might work out after all. As she walked towards her office she realized that she was feeling like this for the first time in a long while. _Maybe I'm doing better than I thought._

_**A/N: I have no clue what the process would be when examining a body so if anything is not how it should be then that's why. I'm making this up as I go along and since its fanfic I'm less tempted to go do some actual research.**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**Disclaimer: I don't own em…**_

Jordan was coming up with a plan. For now she decided to just 'play it cool'. How hard could that be, to just sit back and let her make a mistake, let her slip up all by herself? Well it proved to be quite difficult. Jordan knew that she wasn't the kind of person to just sit back when there was work to be done.

Her work situation was the first thing that aggravated the situation. She had to share with Dr. Switzer. It was impossible to for her to get anything done. Dr. Switzer made sure of it. She was assigned to every case that Jordan was 'overseeing' as the powers that be liked to put it. Not only was she assigned to Jordan's cases but she also made Jordan feel like she was inadequate to do anything by herself. If you didn't know better, you'd think that Jordan was recently hired and 'allowed' to look over the shoulder of the 'real' ME's.

Jordan couldn't take it anymore but for the sake of her job, if that's what one called what she was doing, and for the sake of Garret she held on. Today however was one of the days she did the opposite, she was going head to head with Dr. Switzer.

"No, I just think that it's not the right decision. That's all I said, but go ahead and…" Jordan wasn't able to finish as she was cut off by a furious Dr. Switzer.

"Dr. Cavanaugh? Are you questioning my abilities as an ME?" was the stern reply.

_God no I wouldn't dream of doing that_, Jordan thought to herself before giving the politically correct answer. "Dr. Switzer, Kate…look it doesn't have to be this way always. I say black and you say white. We can both see that this woman was clearly murdered. She has a skull fracture that we can trace back to the object we found at the scene. I usually don't go for this but it's an open and shut case. More tests will only give the killer more time to get away and frankly the results will be the same." She eyes the doctor to see if she was on the same page. "So can we please just please move on from this spot?"

"I'm not so sure we are still talking about the case."

There it was. Jordan's window to throw it all in the good doctor's face. She didn't however, it wasn't the time. "Of course we're talking about the case, I mean what else?" _Go for it Kate, I can do this all night long. I mean you've got me exhausted trying to figure this whole thing out but I'm not giving up. No chance in hell_,Jordan thought to herself.

"Ok Dr. Cavanaugh you're right, I'll go let Detective Hoyt know about the results." She said as she walked out of trace.

"God this woman is impossible," Jordan let out finally.

"Gee luv, tell me how you really feel about her." Nigel joked. He had walked in right after Kate had left. "She giving you a hard time still?"

"Hard time? Nige, she's impossible to work with! I'll say one thing and she will say the exact opposite just to spite me. It's like were back in Junior High Nige. Junior freaking High!" Jordan sighed.

"Now now settle down dear or you're going to miss the news. Did I mention I have some news?" he said as he was smiling ear to ear.

"News? Dear god tell me it's about Kate. Nigel please tell me it's about her."

"It is…and it's good." Right when he wanted to tell Jordan what he found out Garret walked in.

"Jordan I need you on the corner of 10th and 1st." when she didn't follow him out right away he added, "now Jordan."

"Gar? What about…"

"Don't worry about that, I got it covered. I need my best ME for this one. Nigel, you're going with Jordan and make sure she stays out of trouble."

Nigel smiled, "will do Dr. M. I guess I'll fill you in on the road then love."

She nodded in return, "I guess you will Nige," she replied finally and smiled.

The ride wasn't very long but Nigel managed to give the short version. Once she heard his news she was very eager to get to work and finish up so she could go to Garret with the news.

"Sorry love, he can't know."

"What do you mean? He's the reason I'm mainly doing this."

"He'd have me shipped back to the motherland if he ever found out I had a part in this."

"Nigel, this is what we need to get her out here, get her out of my office, off my cases and out of our lives…for good!" she looked at him her eyes pleading him to comply with her. He was always a sucker for her tactics so he did comply finally.

"Oh you knew I wasn't gonna say no anyways. So stop putting on this show." He said jokingly.

"Yeah, but I just wanted you to be ok with it."

"Oh? Usually I just get dragged into whatever it is you're doing and I just deal with it."

"Ya…I know."

"But that's ok you know, I don't mind."

"Hmm," she replied absentmindedly.

"You know I don't care about that Jordan, I'm happy to help you…always."

"Of course, it's nothing really. Let's get this over with." They finished their job fairly quickly and were on their way back to the morgue. They didn't talk as much on the way back. At first Nigel thought that she was merely thinking about telling Garret but the more he thought about it, the more he was convinced that his comment earlier had made an impact. He wished he had kept his mouth shut.

Once they returned back to the morgue there was a whole different situation to deal with. It seemed that Kate was now up to speed on Jordan's whereabouts and she didn't seem pleased. They could tell by the mere fact that she was waiting for them right as they came out of the elevator.

"Dr. Cavanaugh. Dr. Townsend. Glad to see you're back from your little trip." She was furious that was for sure. She didn't even bother to pretend that she wasn't. "I came back and you two were no where in sight."

"Gee I wasn't aware that we needed your clearance." Jordan replied. It seemed this was the moment that it would all come out. "In fact let's get one thing straight here, I respond to Dr. Macy not you! For the time being you might think that you call the shots here but that is just temporary. You can count on that."

The look on Kate's face assured Jordan that her point was understood. There was no confusion about it, the two women were about to go head to head.

Nigel, who had witnessed all this, decided to step in. "Jordan. We need to finish up…"

Jordan cut him off, "Nige, its ok. You go ahead I'll be right there." She said as she looked right at him. He knew she meant business so he did as she asked.

"All right. Let me know if you need anything then." He said and then left for trace. He wanted to stay but she was very clear that he needed to go. If he didn't get that by her saying so, he certainly saw it in her eyes. It was time to deal with Kate.

When Nigel left the two women went straight for the empty conference room behind them. As soon as Jordan shut the door Kate's anger erupted.

"Who the hell do you think you are? In case you've somehow forgotten, I _oversee _all your cases. Do you understand what that means? I'll tell you what that means. It means that you do not go out by yourself when we get a call…"

"Seriously are you hearing yourself right now?" Jordan interrupted. "Is it just me or have you gone completely insane? You're actually telling me I can't step out without your permission?" she finally threw her hands in the air. "Seriously where do _you_ get off telling me all this?"

That was the final straw, Kate went on about Jordan's insubordination and Jordan felt there was no insubordination since she didn't answer to Kate. The two went head to head until finally Garret came in the room and separated the two.

"What the hell is going on in here! Have you two gone absolutely insane?" He paused to look at the two women. It wasn't that he was waiting for them to actually answer his question, but it was more a look of disappointment. That hit Jordan hard. There were but a few things that could stop her dead in her tracks…_this_ was one of the few.

She tried to respond to Garret but not much came of it, "Gar I…"

"Jordan save it. Bug needs a hand in trace." When she didn't move he told her again this time his tone of voice spoke volumes, he was furious. "NOW Jordan!"

Jordan felt like she was just slapped across the face. There was no physical pain but more of a sting in her gut…in her heart. She felt extremely hurt. Without saying another word she followed his order and went to trace.

Kate was under the impression that she had won this time and was feeling pretty good about herself. That quickly changed however.

"What the hell do you think you are doing? Maybe it hasn't hit you yet. This is my morgue…my rules. If you think you're here to take over, you are dead wrong." His voice was just as menacing as his expression. Every person has a boiling point, he had reached his. "It's over Kate. The only way you're ever going to become Chief ME is when my cold dead body is lying on a slab down the hall and even then there is no guarantee. There are far more qualified people here that can do my job better than you ever can."

She scoffed, "Jordan? Please at the first sign of hardship she'll run so fast…"

He stopped her before she could continue. "Make no mistake Kate. These people here are not just staff. We're a family and there's no way in hell I'm going to stand by as you come in here and try to screw things up."

She slowly became wary of his words. "It doesn't matter anyway. I'm the one they trust. I'm the one they want for the job. You and you're twisted little family will be out of here soon enough."

There was a good chance she was telling the truth. She probably did have approval from higher up but to Garret that didn't matter…she was grasping for straws. He gave her a smile, "if you'll excuse me I have work to do. Oh and Kate, lay off my people. They work for me, understood?" He then left for his office.

He had made his point. Kate didn't leave the conference room for another ten minutes.

Bug was working on the body that Nigel and Jordan had brought in. When Jordan arrived in trace he was just about to finish up. "Bug, Garret said you needed a hand?"

"Ah no. I'm just about done here." When he turned around to face her he noticed the streaks on her cheeks. "Jordan? You're crying?" He said as he grew more and more concerned.

"Me? Uh no, I'm fine." She replied back suppressing the remainder of her tears. "Is there anything that I else I can help you with?" she continued.

"No, we're just about done here. Are you ok?" he pressed on.

"Doing great Bug," she lied. "I need to run some errands ok, just in case someone asks." She said as she left trace. Under her breath she muttered the rest of the sentence, "not that anyone will."

Unaware of what had happened earlier in the conference room he thought of this as typical Jordan behavior and went about his work. It wasn't until much later when Nigel was looking for Jordan that he told him what he had seen.

"She was crying?"

"Ya, I mean I thought it was because she was still adjusting to her life back here." Bug tried to explain.

"Oh you insensitive little man!" Nigel exclaimed. "Don't you know that there's more to it than that? We have got to find her." He was about to run out when his cell rang. It was Woody informing him that he had found Jordan at the park. He had found her crying and wanted to check with Nigel that she wasn't being missed at work.

"Thanks Woodrow. Take care of our girl; I'll inform Dr. M she's taking the rest of the day off." He turned to Bug and after a final glare left to find Garret.

"What'd I do?" he said dejectedly.

At the park Woody was trying to comfort Jordan. He was out on his lunch when he saw her sitting on a bench. Not noticing that she was crying at first he had set out to ask her if she wanted to join him. Once he came closer he noticed she was crying. "Jordan? Jordan, what happened!" his voice was laced with concern.

The last person she wanted to talk to was Woody so when he asked her what was the matter she tried to brush him off. "Woody, hey. It's nothing really. Just trying to get back into the groove of daily life." She tried her best to sound convincing but he knew she was lying.

He sat down next to her now. "Oh? What's bothering you then?" he decided to play along with her. It might help her open up to him he thought. "Anything I can help with?" he continued.

She knew he was just humoring her. It still felt nice though so she continued. "Don't think you can. It's just stupid stuff, really I'm making too big a deal anyway." Another attempt to play it down on her part.

"Oh come on, it can't be that stupid if it's got you crying here in the park. You of all people," he said jokingly. "No, it has to be something cause the Jordan Cavanaugh I know doesn't cry about little things." He sounded serious but his face let her know that he was also trying to help.

"Yeah I suppose you're right, but the Jordan Cavanaugh you know…well hate to burst your bubble, but she's gone." She suddenly grew serious. It was time to get serious she thought. From the moment she returned from Washington her life as she knew was over forever. It wasn't enough that she had to deal with the aftermath of JD's death. She also had to deal with the fact that everyone else's life had moved on in one way or the other. While she could never have her life back. It was time to get serious she thought. A little while ago she felt that she had lost Garret. She might as well let Woody know the truth and loose him as well. "Woody, I don't know who I am anymore…"

This was it. She was opening up to him. He was scared to death but she was _finally_ opening up to him. "You're not lost Jordan. You're finally home where you belong. You're surrounded by your friends." He made sure he was looking in her eyes when he spoke so she could read the sincerity in his eyes as well as hear it in his voice.

She looked away. "I thought I was. I thought I had come back home but I was wrong. You guys don't need me. All I ever manage to do is to drag you guys in one mistake to the other. I should have stayed away, I should have."

He realized she was being dead serious. "Jordan, what happened at work today? Something must have happened."

Feeling as if she had already told him too much she decided to fill him in on the rest as well. "It's Kate, Dr. Switzer. It's Garret, hell it's my life. By now you probably more about our little problem at the morgue," she said with disdain. "Well Nigel and I found some more information on her and it seems she's gunning for Garret's job. I'm trying to help but for some reason it's not helping. Garret pretty much wrote me off earlier today."

"What? I'm sorry but I find that hard to believe. Its Garret…he loves you to death. He's done so much for you over the years. No, there must be more to the story."

Woody or the rest of the gang for that matter weren't aware of Jordan's doubts about her life so he was having difficulties understanding or even believing her. For Jordan however everything, every action meant something negative.

"No," she replied. "There isn't." she said as she looked intently in his eyes. "I have to go now, I was only supposed to be gone for a little while." She got up and faked a smile before she left.

Woody decided to let her go. It was too soon to run to her rescue. He knew that now. He knew that he would do anything for her if she asked, but she hadn't and he now more than ever knew to give her just a little time. _A little time, just a little time. There's no way I'm letting you face whatever this is alone_, he thought to himself.


End file.
